In areas where houses are spaced far apart and set back from the street, such as rural areas, homeowners ordinarily have mailboxes that are likewise substantially far from the house. When the mailbox is substantially distant from the house, it is difficult for the homeowner to determine whether or not the mail has arrived, apart from actually seeing the mail carrier deposit the mail in the mailbox or by actually walking a long distance to check the mailbox. Neither of these methods is very practical or time efficient for the homeowner. Moreover, checking an empty mailbox is an annoying occurrence for the homeowner. 
As a result, homeowners have attempted to develop ways to notify the homeowner that mail has been deposited in the mailbox. One such attempt has been to incorporate a visual signal on the mail box that notifies the homeowner when the mailbox lid has been opened. In one example, a resilient member is attached to the mailbox that is positioned between a substantially horizontal position when the mailbox door is closed and a substantially vertical position when the mailbox door has been opened. One problem with such a design, as addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,489 to Stockman, has been inadequate safety measures for the mail carrier and users of the box. That is, the resilient member may quickly into an upright position when the mailbox lid is opened, thereby harming the mail carrier or other person opening the mailbox. To address this problem, Stockman discloses the use of a visual indicator attached to the resilient elongated member, with a tip protector further attached to the visual indicator.
While Stockman provides a safety device to the person opening the mailbox of the visual indicator by adding the tip protector, there remains a problem with prior visual indicators used on mailboxes. In particular, a drawback with such designs is that they do not include a means for easily disabling the indicator by the homeowner. As a result, an indicator that remains up for a period of time, such as an overnight period up to an extended period of days, will signify to potential burglars and other criminals that the homeowner is not present and therefore is not available to foil an attempted crime.
What is desired, then, and not found in the prior art, is a safe mailbox indicator that provides notice to the homeowner of receipt of mail and that also is hidden to conceal when the homeowner's absence from the home. 